By-and-large, it’s a fairly strong ballot, and realistically any player likely to earn a starting line-up job at the All-Star Game is on the list (with 127 players on the ballot, it would be more than a little surprising to see an unlisted player garner enough votes).

Even so, let’s look at some of the weaker players on the list, and the stronger players off of it. Keep in mind too that voting goes until January 4, so excluding a strong player off to a slow start could come back to bite the NHL.

Questionable Inclusions

F – Sidney Crosby: This isn’t actually a particularly questionable player to include, but somebody was bound to bring it up given that he hasn’t played this year. The league’s biggest name absolutely belongs at an event like the All-Star game.

F – Michael Grabner: Grabner’s off to a slow start after a big goal-scoring season last year, but he’s also one of just three Islanders on the ballot (the other two being John Tavares and Mark Streit). Assuming that the league was automatically going to put three Islanders on the list, it’s easy to see why they chose a bigger name in Grabner over a more productive player like Pierre-Alexander Parenteau (12GP – 2G – 9A – 11PTS).

F – Andrew Ladd: Along with defensemen Enstrom and Byfuglien, Ladd makes up the Winnipeg Jets contingent on the ballot. However, other players on the Jets’ roster might have made for a better choice given that Ladd has just five points in 15 games. Streaky Nik Antropov, who leads the team with 11 points would be one option; other offensive leaders include youngsters Alexander Burmistrov (10 points) and Evander Kane (eight points).

F – Eric Staal: Staal’s terrible start (15GP – 3G – 2A – 5PTS, -16) was ignored in recognition of the fact that he’s very skilled and a famous player.

F – R.J. Umberger: The Blue Jackets have only three players on the All-Star ballot, tied for the fewest of any team. Umberger has been one of a bunch of players that have found it impossible to generate offense; one imagines that Vaclav Prospal or James Wisniewski would have been a better choice in the ‘token Blue Jacket’ category.

D- Ed Jovanovski: An odd pick, particularly given how many other Florida Panthers could have been subbed in. While Brian Campbell and Tomas Fleischmann are worthy options, the omission of a defenseman like Dmitri Kulikov (10 points in 14 games) or forwards like Kris Versteeg or Stephen Weiss is interesting.

D – Niklas Kronwall: Kronwall’s not actually a bad pick, but he’s not off to a blazing start and he lacks an imposing name, so he’s something of an odd inclusion on the list.

D – Brent Seabrook: Four assists and the worst plus/minus of any Chicago blue-liner represents a poor start for the blue-liner who had 48 points last season.

D – Marc Staal: Staal has yet to play a game this season after suffering a concussion thanks to a big hit from his brother Eric last season. There’s no publicly announced timetable for his return.

D – Ryan Whitney: The Edmonton Oilers defenseman is on this list thanks to his strong play last season; he’s barely played this year and when he has he wasn’t particularly memorable.

G – Jaroslav Halak: One very much gets the impression that Halak was added to round out the St. Louis contingent. Every team in the league has at least three players on the ballot, and removing Halak would leave the Blues with just two. Even so, it’s hard to overlook his 2-6-0 record and 0.879 SV%, particularly since last season’s performance wasn’t all that good.

G – Jonas Hiller: Good goalie is off to a subpar start (0.900 SV%) and doesn’t have the name to warrant automatic inclusion. The Ducks, with six options on the ballot, aren’t exactly underrepresented, either.

G – James Reimer: Played just six games prior to injury, in his second NHL season. Currently out of action with no timetable for return.

G – A whole bunch of big names off to slow starts: No matter what, guys like Brodeur, Bryzgalov, Luongo and Price were going to be on this ballot, because excluding them would be too big of a statement.

Questionable Exclusions

F – Johan Franzen: The Red Wings leading scorer was not one of the four players from his team added to the All-Star ballot.

F – David Legwand: No Nashville forward made the cut, which is a shame because they had some interesting options. Legwand, a veteran defensive center, is one of the league’s better scorers this season and his inclusion would have been a nice tip of the cap.

F – Tyler Seguin: Taylor Hall made the ballot, but Tyler Seguin did not (and the Taylor/Tyler debate thereby solved for all eternity). Seguin’s 15 points so far this season make him the top-scoring forward to be ignored on this list.

F – Kris Versteeg: It’s easy to make a case for the Panthers’ leading scorer on a ballot that includes Ed Jovanovski.

F – A whole bunch of rookies: On Twitter, @plantheparade made the point that the NHL might be trying to keep players eligible for the Young Stars game off the All-Star list, and I think that’s what has happened here. None of the league’s leading rookie scorers (including first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) made the All-Star Ballot.

My Substitutions

I maintained the rule that each team have at least three players participating, which is why Kulikov, Oshie and Wisniewski were added in place of Halak, Jovanovski and Umberger. Bergeron, Seguin and Legwand were added entirely based on merit, while I felt Jimmy Howard was the best combination of ability/reputation/early season results among the excluded goalies. I also opted to leave the rookies out of the equation, as the NHL has done.

While I've chosen to make some substitutions here, I want to acknowledge that the NHL seems to have done a very strong job with this list, largely finding a good balance between name recognition, participation for the fans of each team, and early season performance.

As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

Jonathan Willis is a freelance writer.
He currently works for Oilers Nation, Sportsnet, the Edmonton Journal and Bleacher Report.
He's co-written three books and worked for myriad websites, including Grantland, ESPN, The Score, and Hockey Prospectus. He was previously the founder and managing editor of Copper & Blue.

i think they should pick 2 rookies and nugent hopkins should definatly be one of them. im mad that seguin isnt on the balled why did they put taylor hall and not tyler this is the ? sidney crosby ,ovechkin ,stamkos,st louis,kane,taves,tavares,sedins,lidstrom datsyuk these all should and,better be on the ballad.if not the NHLneeds to fix it it should go by star status they do call it allstar.thank you and #87 come back soon bro the hockey world needs you.

Just tried to watch the video Willis posted. Those fake award show like events they create out of nowhere are brutal! What a waste of time. Wasn't there a sport being played live somewhere in the world? Jai-alai,... anything?

I know. Look at the nervous looks on everyone's faces after Duthie announces that... mix of huh? and do i get one?

The only good thing about that video is how much everyone ignores Duthie!

first he keeps asking Lidstrom to pick Kessel and instead Kane does; and then he tries repeatedly to get Kessel to pay attn to him to no avail... until he finally comes down to talk to him both begrudgingly and confused.

Wait wait. For how long has being tied for third in one's division and being 4-5-1 in your last ten games qualified any team to be 'one of the league's most successful teams'? Detroit are eleventh in the West and only above St. Louis on what I assume is alphabetical order; they're tied with New Jersey and Ottawa in the East.

Why is there a list at all? Shouldn't being an all-star be based on something real like performance? The fan vote can maybe fill in a few roster gaps with popular players but sheesh. They could at least pretend to hide the fact that the all-star game is a pure pep rally for new fans.

Why is there a list at all? Shouldn't being an all-star be based on something real like performance? The fan vote can maybe fill in a few roster gaps with popular players but sheesh. They could at least pretend to hide the fact that the all-star game is a pure pep rally for new fans.

Watch that stupid video Willis posted. It tells you all you need to know about the Sports Media Entertainment Complex and what it thinks you as a fan want.